It's a shame you're out. I was looking forward to England playing you. :(

Then again, if we carry on playing like we are, we'll lose to Ecuador.

Anyone see the matches yesterday - Brazil v Japan and Australia v Croatia? Simunic (Croatia) got 3 yellows before going off. Stupid English ref. :p

Japan was up 1-0, I guess that piss brazil off alots, they score 4 goals after that.

The ball possession in that match was...

Brazil 63%
Japan 37%

Heh heh.

By the end it really did look like Brazil were toying with Japan. I missed a lot of it, but didn't they sub off Dida [because of boredom] and replace him with a keeper who has scored 50-odd goals in his international games?

Anyone saw the Argentina vs. Mexico? That overtime goal was beautiful.

Yes, good goal by Rodriguez. But I wanted the Mexicans to win. They were all over them in the first half. Such a shame they couldn't carry it on.

How ugly is the Argentinian side?!

Damn no team Canda.

That chest trap kick will go down in history for the world cup because it was that beautiful.

Joe Cole's was better. :p And Cole doesn't look to bad, either. The Argentinians are so damn ugly.

Someone told me that they think the Italians are the 'Prettiest' Team... but they sure have dirty tactics - he never deserved a penalty! Diving wanker.

And the ref's really have been awful... Portugal v Holland match last night -- 16 yellows, 4 reds. Ah well, no Deco and t'other guy for our Quarter Final match. :p

Talking about our match against Equador -- now THAT is why Beckham is kept in the team. :D

Why is all the power houses are winning... how fun to predict.

I hated seeing Totti score that PK in injury time.

wow.. it was so painful to watch ghana play, 22shots(9 on goals). I was hoping they could score one point atleast, they played very nice in passing, but god, they can't shoot for shit.

Painful to watch Ghana? Painful to watch Brazil. I was falling asleep half the time.

They really are one of the most boring teams to watch play when they're like they are now.

That's football. This is Football - it's a "goal". :p

It would have been nice for them to score, they even had a few chances. Shame they didn't, though.

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Anyone watch the Switzerland v Ukraine match?

Ukraine played pretty well. And Switzerland managed to get through their matches without conceding. :p Pennie Shootout doesn't count.

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Spain v France should be fun tonight. 50-1 that France get a goal, methinks. They're going OUT!

They couldn't even get one pennalty kick in out of 4 tries, Swizerland is either unlucky or they need someone that can shoot. France beat spain 3-1, wow, I didn't expect that one.

They took off Frei just before the end, didn't they? He's their best scorer.

If he had been left on then the Swiss would have scored at least 1 out of the 5.

I didn't expect France to win either. When I saw that Spain had socred from a penalty I was thinking "there we go. Au revoir froggies", but no. :(

So, QUarter-final matches:

30/06/06 Germany v Argentina
30/06/06 Italy v Ukraine
01/07/06 England v Portugal
01/07/06 Brazil v France

Methinks that the winners there will be Argentina (just about - pennie shootout, maybe), Italy (again, a close call), England (maybe I'm just too patriotic :p) and Brazil (sure, they're not firing on all cylinders yet, but they will be when they come up against a real opponent like France).

What do you think?

I know that Argentina - Germany is going to be the best matchup, and the England - Portugal game is gonna be a difficult struggle for England.

Germany v Argentina will be a great match.

And you really think so about the England v Portugal match?

Don't forget they're missing two of their best players due to red cards, and Ronaldo may be out because of injury.

We beat them at Eruo 2004... except we had a bastard Swiss ref who disallowed two of our goals, made us play silver goal, then pennie shootout.

And look at Rooney - he's played 3 matches, yet look at how he performed against Ecuador. He actually looked like he got fitter as the match progressed.

30/06/06 Germany v Argentina : I would say germany would win on this one
30/06/06 Italy v Ukraine : I have no idea on this one
01/07/06 England v Portugal : England
01/07/06 Brazil v France : ... who else

The only two teams i care about that are left are Italy and England. A) im Italian and B) the english are all thaqt bad>

YES!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Deutschland, Deutschland über alles."

HAHA!! Goodbye to the ugliest team of the WC. :D The only other team that could stand between us and the Trophy.

What a match that was too!! Germany and Argentina were so evenly matched! But the penalties, man alive! Those Germans do know how to kick. See how many went into the bottom right corner, though? That was the Argentinian keepers' weakness. And Germany exploited it.

Oh, I'm happy! :p

It's too bad Rooney got that Red Card. I wanted England to win. Why didn't Crouch take a PK? He is a forward, should have a shot.

Oh well, not much to say, Portugal came out strong.

well england are out too wooohooo!!!

Too much to say...

Rooney did not deserve a red card. Anyone who is tripped like that steps back in reflex. At first I thought he should have got a free kick, but you can see on the replays that he's fighting un-nessecarily for the ball. Yellow at most.

The person who SHOULD have got the red was Ronaldo. He is the most shit-stirring little cunt I have ever seen! Before the match he headbutted Rooney. Then when Rooney finished his little scuffle, who was it who ran straight to the ref like a little boy? Ronaldo. He got the ref's attention. He went out of his way to annoy Rooney. He's his fucking team-mate at United for fuck's sake!! And then, after Rooney is off, the camera cut to him, and the little fucking cunt winked at his bench! HE HAD THE AUDACITY TO WINK!!

But that's what you get when you've got some Swede at the helm, making bad decisions. Oh yeah, let's take Walcott. Untried, untested, unused. We could've had Defoe! But noooo, let's take him along as a novelty mascott. Yeah, that'll help.

Crouch can't take Pennies. Take it from someone who watches all the England games. Crouch is hopeless at Penalties.

To be perfectly honest, I was on the verge of tears at the end of the match. We played so well. Even with 10 men. It took the Portugese 120 minutes to beat us, and even then it was with pennies.

Our best chance in 40 years... gone. Maybe we'll do better under someone who has grown up and played English football. We'll have Owen, Rooney and Crouch still in 4 years. We'll have an experienced Walcott. Same with Lennon and Downing. The two Coles will have matured, and Carrick, Carragher and Hargreaves will have upped their games. But that's it for Neville. That's it for Beckham.

And, once again, that's it for the WC.

I don't care what happens now. It means sweet fuck all to me. I'm not coming back to this thread, unless it means I can shout some of my anger and anguish at some unlucky member who says slightly the wrong thing.

My last words:

France will lose to Brazil tonight.
Germany will fight a close contest with Italy but pull through.
Brazil will go on to slaughter Portugal, and beat Germany on penalties in the final.
And Portugal will win in extra time against Italy for the third place spot.

well, the goalie for portugal was amazing. He stopped your boys cold. THat and Beck's was out. And at this moment, France is beating Brazil and Italy will win it all if Brazil loses. Germany sucks

Germany is very strong, it's hard to tell whether they or Italy will advance. I think France will mop up against Portugal. Zidane didn't look like 34 during his game, he looked like 24; shouldn't be retiring.

Let's go Italy!

So apparently the brits lost.

My dad said the british fans are going to burn down berlin.

and kill some people named ronaldo, whining bastard

That Germany game was awesome.

Brazil lost. Too many stars can't make a great team, it's a good team, just not great team.

BAH!! I can't help it!! I've got to keep in this thread. :cry:

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Yes, Ricardo IS a good Keeper. I hate to say it, but he is good.

As for Becks - hes resigned as Captain. He'll probably play 5 or 6 more matches, to get his 100 caps for England, then he might resign altogether. His career is going nowhere at Real Madrid - being England Captain made him what he is.

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I've noticed that my Brazil prediction was awfully wrong. Bloody French.

I now say the Germans will win. :p

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And yes, Sov and Grue, like true English Football Fans, we all have a dark side. Expect German police to arrest hundreds... and Christiano Ronaldo is not going to be able to show his face in Britain again. I wouldn't be surprised if Rooney, Neville, Ferdinand, and maybe a couple of others, really hurt him in Pre-Season Training. The whiney bastard.

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Forgot a bit. :p

They're great individuals. They play as individuals. They don't bond as a team. That's their main problem.

Look at something like the Dutch side in the 70s - 74 particularly. Throughout the whole tournament they played Total Football as a team - and they were mostly great individuals playing together.

And Italy is going to the World Cup. I am so excited. The game was awesome.

Wow, the in the second half of the over time, score at the 13 minutes. Dam, once again, German just can't beat the curse.

Methinks I'm the curse here.

I say England will beat Portugal. We lose.
I say Brazil will thrash France. They lose.
I say Germany will beat Italy and win the WC. Italy get two raggy goals. Cheeky bastards. Germany should've gone on to Penalties and beaten them.

Hmmm...

COME ON YOU FRENCHIES!!!

Heh heh h... oh bugger. That means Portugal will win.

BAH!

Should be Italy over France.

I think its going to be a great match. But i really want to see Italy pull through. I love Pirlo so much. He is the shit, especially on that back heel pass to score the first goal against Germany. But i do think France has more depth on the bench which could hurt the Italians. Oh well, LETS GO ITALY.

It was a good game. Probably would have come down to shots from the mark if Zidane didn't score. I think Christiano Ronaldo had a good game, despite getting booed.

On that note, I think all you Brits (Lenny included, of course) are just sore losers looking for someone to blame. Clearly Rooney stepped on the guy's groin, and that was why he got a red card.

Italy 2-1 over France is my prediction for the final.

Of course we're sore losers. We're too passionate to take controversial decisions lightly.

Still, it was EVERYONE but the Portugese who booed Ronaldo. So there are obviously at least 30,000 other people in Germany who don't like him, and there's bound to be people elsewhere.

Until Ronaldo (and the other Portugese players) crowded round the ref and started whinging, he looked as if he was only going to give a free kick. Usually you'd pull the card out straight away.

Saying that, though, they're not allowed to book for dives any more. Thank God the Portugese aren't in the Final - it'd be a fiasco. And the guy who is reffing the final is the guy who gave Rooney his red.

And I've just completely lost my train of... there it is! How sweet it was to watch the Portugese get beat because of a Penalty. :) The Europeans know how to take penalties - as hard as you can.

I bet money on the French.

To say they started off so badly, they've done pretty well now. Then again, most teams that win the WC have an awful start. :p

I'd agree.

Jesus... Zidane has just been sent off. Stupid, stupid man!!

And it's that bloody ref again. What is it with him and sending teams key players off?!

Still, France look like they're playing better... they'll hold it until penalties. And the Italians can't do penalties, apparently.